Physical-vapor deposition of thin films onto semiconductor wafers is widely used in the fabrication of microelectronics devices. Generally, physical-vapor deposition, or sputter deposition, requires the removal of particles of a sputtering target material and the deposition of those particles onto a semiconductor wafer, thereby forming a thin film of the sputtering target material on the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
There is disclosed in the prior art the use of an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma device to deposit a thin film of sputtering target material onto a workpiece such as a semiconductor wafer. A disadvantage of the prior art ECR plasma device is constricted access from the target material to the semiconductor substrate. A further disadvantage is a lack of deposition uniformity and an inability to have large sputtering target material surface areas. Previous deposition techniques required a specific configuration of the sputtering target material in order to obtain uniform deposition onto the semiconductor substrate.
From the foregoing, it may be appreciated that a need has arisen for a method and apparatus for physical-vapor deposition that allows complete line of sight access between the sputtering target material and the semiconductor substrate. A need has also arisen to improve and control uniformity and rate of deposition in a physical-vapor deposition process. Further, a need has arisen to increase the size of the sputtering target material and the semiconductor substrate in a physical-vapor deposition environment.